1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and a thin film transistor array panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes and liquid crystal interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in liquid crystal, which determines orientations of liquid crystal molecules to adjust polarization of incident light.
The LCD has a disadvantage of a narrow viewing angle. Various techniques for improving the viewing angle have been suggested. Among them, it has been found promising to utilize vertically aligned liquid crystal and to form cutouts or protrusions at the field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode.
Since the cutouts and the protrusions reduce the aperture ratio, it is suggested that the size of the pixel electrodes should be maximized. However, the proximity between the pixel electrodes causes strong lateral electric fields, which dishevels orientations of the liquid crystal molecules to yield textures and light leakage, thereby deteriorating display characteristics.